The biggest show on New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s calendar — Wrestle Kingdom — comes our way this week, on the same day (Jan. 4) and from the same place (the Tokyo Dome) that it always does.
Wrestle Kingdom 20 figures to be a special show. In addition to paying off some of NJPW’s big angles with early match of the year candidates, this year’s card features the final match of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s legendary career. Tanahashi will continue to lead New Japan as President, but he’s hanging up his boots after
on last match with his rival Kazuchika Okada, now with AEW. The Tokyo Dome has been sold out for weeks, as fans want to be on-hand to say goodbye to the Ace during the match and the retirement ceremony with past New Japan rivals and current AEW stars Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay in attendance that’s set to follow Tanahashi & Okada’s 18th singles clash (The Rainmaker leads the series 8-6, with three time-limit draws between them).
New Japan is also resetting their top titles with a pair of champion vs. champion “Winner Takes All” bouts at Wrestle Kingdom 20. AEW’s Konosuke Takeshita is the reigning IWGP World champion, which doesn’t sit right with rising New Japan star and reigning IWGP Global champ Yota Tsuji. He’ll get a chance to bring the World title back to NJPW on Sunday, while NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Saya Kamitani takes on IWGP Women’s Champion Syuri. Kamitani was named Tokyo Sports’ Pro Wrestling MVP of 2025, the first woman to earn that honor.
Someone New Japan hopes will be main event-ing Wrestle Kingdoms in the not-so-distant future will debut on Sunday’s card, as Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Aaron Wolf challenges EVIL for the NEVER Openweight belt.
The main card starts at 4 p.m. local time, which is 2 a.m. Eastern here in the United States (a kickoff show is scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m. in Tokyo, or 1:15 a.m. ET). The only way to watch Wrestle Kingdom is on New Japan’s NJPWWorld streaming service. You can sign up here for $9.99 (US) per month. The show will be available with Japanese or English language commentary.
Cageside Seats have news from Wrestle Kingdom 20 early Sunday morning.
Here’s the card for the show:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
- Tanhashi’s retirement ceremony
- IWGP World champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. IWGP Global champion Yota Tsuji
- NJPW Strong Women’s champ Saya Kamitani vs. IWGP Women’s champ Syuri in a Winner Takes All Match
- EVIL (c) vs. Aaron Wolf for the NEVER Openweight title
- El Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. SHO to determine the #1 contender for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title
- YOH, Master Wato & Toru Yano (c) defend the NEVER Openweight 6-Man championship in a Tornado Ranbo vs. TBA
- Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Drilla Moloney), Shingo Takagi, and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Andrade El Ídolo and United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Henare, and TBA)
- NJPW Television champ El Phantasmo defends against Chris Brookes (pre-show)
- Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Katsuya Murashima & Masatora Yasuda (pre-show)
